Becoming a YouTuber?

Hello!

I think I may have told you all before how I originally wanted to film and upload YouTube videos instead of running a blog. As you can tell it didn't quite work out that way and I resorted to blogging which I am so happy with because I love writing out my thoughts and I'm not very good at keeping a diary so writing for you makes it easier for me to have the motivation to do it.

Recently I have been thinking about creating YouTube content but this time I seem to be more driven to do it. Before it was just an idea which I would have loved to have done but thought I'd never do it but now that I have the resources and the motivation my ideas are becoming more clear.

The only thing stopping me at the moment is confidence. You may or may not know this but I have some confidence issues and I don't have a very big self esteem. This is getting in the way of a lot of opportunities I want to take and have stopped me from taking opportunities in the past which I now regret. The biggest things worrying me about creating YouTube videos is the way I sound (as I think I sound like I have a blocked nose all the time) and how I get nervous with somethings and then I don't think I end up making a lot of sense. 

Although I do have this confidence barrier that is stopping me at the moment from doing what I would like to do with my life, I am slowly getting over it and allowing myself to take the opportunities I really want in life. this includes YouTube and soon I hope to relax myself enough to be able to at least make one video. I can always decide afterwards if I want to upload it or not but I know that I will be so proud off self for trying and who knows, maybe I will upload it and many more for years to come but I won't know unless I try.

This doesn't just mean saying yes to YouTube but also saying yes to many more experiences such as events, meeting new people and even applying to be in a movie (which is one of my regrets)!

The other thing to think about is the fact I have no idea what I would film for my first video. That's the video people are going to watch at the beginning so I need to make it kind of interesting so expel will watch it.

Anyway, I know this was a short blog post but I really would love your advice on this matter. I always ask for comments but this time I would love to see if anyone has any confidence issues themselves and if so do you know any exercises that can possibly help to gain more confidence? 

Also, would you watch my YouTube videos based on what you have read in my blog posts?

Sending my love, 

As always,

A Wanderlust Being.

           -x-

Meeting online friends

Hello!

I'm going to jump right in with today's blog post: meeting online friends for the first time. With all the social networking sites we have these days it's easy to contact people across the globe wi the click of a button and I consider this a fantastic achievement for the human race in general. It allows us to not only keep in contact with old friends or family members but also make new friends and talk to people about your interests or problems without feeling judged. 

Yet there is always a risk with this as some individuals lurking around the Internet do it to deceive others which can be dangerous. This is why I want to talk about this topic as some people have different ideas and understandings of it. By the end of this blog post I fully encourage everyone to comment their thoughts bellow about this topic but please remember that these are all my opinions and not fact.

Firstly I'd like to point out that I have quite a few online friends. A few of them are YouTubers or Bloggers and others are just people I've met online over common interests. Quite a lot of people stress that just because you know them online it does not mean you actually know them. This can be true but it can also be wrong. 

For example, an online friend of mine who I met through a similar interest has been my friend for around 4 years now. At first we were just talking through a chat along with a group of others. I haven't had any visual or audio contact with her for the first 2 or possibly 3 years but I considered her my friend. I then started to talk to her over Skype (as well as talking to another online friend) without the visual.  I eventually found out what she looked like and around 2 weeks ago we met at Comic Con in London.

Meeting friends who you have made online is not necessarily a bad thing but I do encourage you all to have both audio and visual contact with the person before meeting them and to always to it in an area where you know is secure. Please don't meet them alone; always take someone with you or meet up in a busy area or a public event where there are multiple people to help you if your online friend isn't who they say they are. 

But other than these scares I fully recommend that you meet up with your on lines friends if you get the chance to because when I did it was one of the best things to ever happen! It's like having a good friend who you have known for years and finally being reunited with them. It's one of the best feelings in the world! I now can't wait to see my friend again in October and in November she plans to come down to stay with me for a weekend to go to Cardiff Comic Con. 

For those of you who don't fully understand how people can trust others online to be who they say they are, please don't go telling them they are wrong or that they can't truly be friends with that person; instead make sure they know the dangers and help them to be sure that their friend is genuine.

Now that I have met one of my online friends, I can't wait to meet all the others! Two of which (a YouTuber and a Blogger) I hope to meet this summer. A few of them live in America and Canada and I may have to wait a long time to meet them and another lives in Dubai who I hope to meet but this can't be garunteed unfortunately. 

One day though, I hope no wish to meet them all. I also would love to make more friends through this blog so if you ever want to talk just head over to my Twitter account where I should be able to talk a lot of the time (@thewayward_girl OR @wanderlustbeing).

Sending my love, 

As always,

A Wanderlust Being.

           -x-

Summer is nearly upon us!

Hello!

As you probably have noticed by now I have not been very good lately with keeping this blog up to date and presenting you with at least two blog posts a month (which is my personal goal). I could write you a list of excuses but none of them would really magically make it all better and give me my time back; so this blog post is going to be a little catch up to get you guys up to date with my boring but surprisingly busy life through the last month or so!

Let's start with the least important detail of May: My birthday. My mother happened to birth me on the 25th of May in the year of 1997 which so happens to now make me 18 years old! I had lots of fantastic and wonderfully pleasant cards and gifts as well as the company of my friends and family which made this birthday one of the greatest and I am now legally allowed to drink alcohol at a bar!

This leads me onto my next topic of news: driving! Yes, in the UK you are legally aloud to start learning to drive at the age of 17. Hmm, what's that I hear you asking? Why didn't I start a year ago when I turned 17? The answer is because I was stupid. No, I'm just messing, I wasn't that bothered at the time and a car wasn't really needed. I also didn't have a job so I couldn't physically afford it but that is no longer a problem because of my next piece of news:

I now have a part time job! -gives myself a pat on the back- I am quite proud of myself for this as I'm not the most outgoing individual in the world and I'm not very confident with maths or even major responsibility which sounds dumb but I am enjoying it. My coworkers are lovely, I'm meeting new people from the village I live in and I'm earning a fair wage; what more could I want?

I actually knew about this job before the beginning of May but I hadn't started until mid May as I had to go to my cousin's wedding which was so amazing and magical! Here are some official photographs from the photographer hired on the day (Owen Howells).

Over the half term (last week of May which also happened to roll over onto my birthday) I did a variety of things to celebrate my birthday. Here's a small run down on what happened on each day:

Friday the 22nd: Last day of college before half term and work from 4:00pm-7:30pm.

Saturday the 23rd: Travelled down to my grandparents home in Crawley, chilled out for the afternoon before going out for dinner at the hungry horse with my grandfather and then going to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron (which was incredible might I add!! I cried near the end!). Before we left the cinema there was a giant screen with motion censors where you could play a game called 'Hulkbuster' where you could control the iron Hulkbuster suit Tony Stark built (I didn't get a chance to play it but watching my brother trying to figure out the controls was hilarious!).

Sunday th 24th: Today was the whole reason we travelled to Crawley for such a short period of time - London Comic Con! I travelled to London with my father, half-sister and brother to experience my first ever Comic Convention. I was so excited yet nervous because not only was I attending my first Comic Con but I was also meeting a friend of mine for the first time. I call her Kairi as we met over an online role play group about the video game Kingdom Hearts and that was the character she role played (I was/am Aqua by the way). The role play group has gone dead recently but I still kept in contact with a few of them and I occasionally Skype them. Kairi though is different; I talk to her on a regular basis and we sometimes buy each other stuff from eBay or Amazon. (Insert Caegus photos). 

I unfortunately do not have a picture of our meeting but I assure you it did happen and I couldn't be happier that I finally met my friend of approximately 4 years! I also met her friend and a ton of cool people whom dressed up as mostly Five Nights At Freddie's characters but also a few who were other characters.

Monday the 25th: Today is officially my birthday and I had to spend it working from 12:00pm-5:00pm before going out to dinner over the local pub with my father, step-mother and step-grandparents at 7:00pm. I also sat down with my friends and had a chat once they had finished work as two of them work there.

Tuesday the 26th: I travelled down to where I used to live to spend the next couple of days with my mum's side of the family and my old friends from school. 

Wednesday the 27th: I invited a group of friends to come out with me to have a few drinks to celebrate my birthday. Since it was half term I didn't think it would be dead but it turns out I was wrong with my assumption. We stayed out until 12:00am before heading back to my house where a few of us had some more drinks, played a drinking game and chilled out whilst having a good conversation.

Thursday the 28th: Today I invited a few family members from my mother's side as well as my best friend of all time who is like a sister to me out for dinner at the Indian in town. My favourite food is chicken korma curry and I just had to go there for my birthday. We had a wonderful night and I received a few bottles of alcohol and some money which is always good too!

Friday the 29th: lady I travelled back up to my dad's before heading off to work. Not much happened today.

Saturday the 30th: My college friends and I were planning to go down to Dragon FEST which is a festival kind of event but our plans changed but we still had a few drinks over the local pub!

Sunday the 31st: Work at 8am and chilling out before college the next morning.

I'm not sure what else to say apart from I sat out in the garden for a couple of hours after work yesterday and caught a suntan! I also have something planned coming up but I don't want to say anything in case I can't go through with it but you will find out soon, I promise, just wait until August time!

That's all for now I guess! I'd love to hear about what you all got up to during the half term so drop a comment on this post and I'll be sure to give it a read.

Sending my love,

As always,

A Wanderlust Being.

           -x-

Malteser Cupcakes for a 70th Birthday!

Hello! 

This post is a little late considering I made these on Wednesday the 1st of April and yes, my step-grandfather's birthday is on April Fools day. I always giggle at that fact as he is the biggest joker I know. Even if his jokes don't make sense or are not funny he finds them funny and laughs and the joy he gets from it makes all the jokes worthwhile. His laugh can make you chuckle and only occasionally are his jokes not funny.

Anyway, I decided to make him some Malteser cupcakes as I just fancied baking something and his favourite sweets/chocolate are, you guessed it, Maltesers! So without further ado here is the list of ingredients that I followed to make my cupcakes!

For the cupcakes:

- 150g of butter

- 150g of caster sugar

- 175g of self-raising flour

- 25g of coca powder

- 3 eggs

For the icing:

- 250g of butter

- 500g of icing sugar

- 2 teaspoons of milk

- 12 raspberries (in the original cupacke recipe but replace with 24 Maltesers)

- 12 chocolate flakes (in the original cupcake recipe but replaced with 24 crushed Maltesers)

I won't bother typing out the full method but here is the link to the recipe shared by Fearne Cotton: http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/chocolate-cupcakes-buttercream-topping.html

And here is what my batch of 24 Mlateser cupcakes looked like (keeping in mind that this is the first time I have attempted these!)

If these cupcakes inspire you to bake in anyway please let me know either in the comments below or on one of my social networking accounts. I'd love to see your creations.

Sending my love as always, 

A Wanderlust Being.

          -x-

My Feel Good Playlist

Hello!

It's finally the end of term and the beginning of the Easter holidays! I don't know about you but I'm so happy to have time off from college. It has been a rather challenging last few weeks but all is okay because I can relax a little more and spend some time with my family and friends.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons I have needed up beat songs recently to get me motivated in the morning to get up or to do things I don't really feel like doing and I thought I would share my favourite songs that get me smiling and wanting to dance my way through tedious tasks.

1) Walking On Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves - This has to be one of my all time favourite songs and whenever I hear it I want to pull a Charlie Bradbury (If you get that reference I officially love you!) and dance to my heart's content.

2) Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper - This is just a feel good classic for a lot of girls, including myself.

3) Wicked Wonderland by Martin Tungevaag - I've only just recently come across this song less than a week ago but I really like it; it makes me want to jump around me room!

4) Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz - I remember this song from my childhood and ever since I first heard it, I've loved it and I don't think I'll ever not appreciate this song.

5) Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus - I can safely say that this song is pure genius! It's one of my all time favourites and perhaps my favourite of all songs. I like to think that this song is my theme song but that's a matter of opinion.

6) Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) by The Offspring - I don't don't know why this makes me feel happier, I just really like this song!

7) I'll Be There For You by The Rembrandts - I'm pretty sure most of the world knows this song as it is the theme song for a very popular television show. I myself cannot stop singing when I here this song and I hear it a lot, trust me, I have the box set!

8) What I Like About You by The Romantics - I love this song so much and it's definitely worth the listen! Also, I really love 5 Seconds of Summer's cover of this song so I highly recommend you listen to that version too. The original will always be the best but I'm smitten with 5SOS so I had to through it in there!

9) Papaoutai by Stromae/Pentatonix - Honestly I love both versions just as equally! Honestly I don't listen to a lot of Stromae but I can't deny he is an amazing artist and I should listen to him more but Pentatonix, well what can I say? I'm so in love with theme it's unreal! They're amazing and talented artists who are so down to earth! Two of the members, Mich and Scott, have a YouTube channel which I obsess over called SUPERFRUIT. 

10) Holiday by Green Day - I just love a lot of Green Day's songs and this is one of my favourites along with the following Green Day songs. Green Day was apart of my childhood.

11) Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day - Again I just really love Green Day.

12) Jesus of Suburbia by Green Day - I think you know by now why.

13) American Idiot by Green Day - This song just makes me want to jump around playing air guitar and scream the lyrics for my whole village to hear! 

And that's all the songs that are on my feel good playlist at the moment! I'm sure there are so many more songs that make me happy and actually make me smile but I honestly can't remember at the moment. I highly recommend listening to each and ever song I have listed and don't forget to plug in your headphones for the best result!

Sending my love and best wishes,

As always,

A Wanderlust Being.

          -x-

My New Years resolutions.

Hello!

This post was meant to be officially the first post of 2015 but I messed it up so it's now the second blog post of the year, oh well! 

I decided in this blog post I would share with you my New Years Resolutions and explain why I choose them and how they're not just empty words.

1) Loose weight - Sometimes I may act as if I don't care about what I look like but honestly I'm constantly conscious about my weight and whether my clothing is a bit too tight on me and shows my extra flab. I'm perfectly happy with the overall shape of my body just not my stomach. I'm not talking about loosing tons of weight to became a size 8 or 6 (UK), that would be nice but I honestly think that would not suit me. 

2) Keep fit - You may think I've just repeated myself but I ensure you, they are both different. I want to keep fit to become stronger and healthier physically and mentally. They say excersie relieves the body of stress and another honest confesses soon is that I'd like to be able feel like I'm able to take part in charity runs without embarrassing myself. 

3) Eat healthier - Recently I been catching myself eating things that are convenient rather than nutritious and I'd like for that to change. I want to indroduce myself to a bigger and more healthy variety of foods. Sure I'll still have the odd take out because I don't think I'd actually ever be able to give up a good old Chicken Korma from my local Indian or a Pepperoni pizza with cheesy garlic bread from Pizza Hut but I think my body would benefit from this change.

4) Be more motivated - This includes actually doing the other resolutions and putting my opinions out in the open rather than keeping it to myself because 'I can't be bothered' or 'I don't care about what happens'. Recently I have been annoying myself so much when I have been rushing to do coursework a day or two before the deadline and I've had enough. From now on I want to be able to do something and enjoy at least a little aspect of it.

5) Make memories - By this I mean I want to say yes to more opportunities and do things and go to events that I've wanted to go to for a couple of years. I also want to meet friends I have known for quite a while online and I know some people my think 'what if they are not who they say they are?', I have thought this through, trust me. I think I am old enough know to be making my own decisions and to the people who don't trust I'm making good decisions, I will never meet with someone from online in private.

6) Take more photographs - Just a personal goal for myself this year. I love taking photos, especially with my camera which I'm absolutely in love with! So, throughout this year (and hopefully the next few years) I would like to carry on with the hobbie and improve my amature photography skills.

How many New Years resolutions do you have, if any at all? Please let me know in the comments below, I'd love to know!

Sending my love and best wishes,

A Wanderlust Being.

              -x-